Simple IS The New Radical

Simple IS The New Radical

By Jaden Sterling

It was Tuesday evening, crunch time before we headed out for a flight early Wednesday. I had a pit in my stomach as I looked at my desk and saw multiple stacks of paper, each vying for my attention.

Scratching my head I asked myself “How did this happen?” The answer came quickly: upgrading my website, launching a new product, packed coaching schedule, corporate taxes, and preparing for an upcoming workshop contributed to the paperwork pile up.

I’ve never been a fan of multi tasking yet found myself doing that exact thing –giving energy simultaneously to multiple projects left me feeling overwhelmed and… I don’t like to admit – inefficient.

In the past, [prior to leaving town] I made a point to clear my desk so that when I returned from vacation or business I could easily jump back into the flow with minimal effort.

Rather than spending too much time thinking how my desk got so cluttered I chose to focus my energy on having a paper free desktop within 30 minutes. Initially when I set that goal my sub conscious mind chimed in with thoughts such as, “Who are you kidding?” and “You can’t do that look at all these papers”.  Knowing the enormity of the task ahead, I had to do several things.

First, I had to quiet my subconscious mind… more precisely I had to drown out the noise from my subconscious, which was easily accomplished by playing up lifting music LOUDLY.

Drowning out the voice of doubt allowed for my mind to get busy on the task at hand.

Second, I grabbed my recycling bin [not trash can] and set my timer for 5 minutes, which worked out to one minute per stack. I had 60 seconds to quickly assess which papers were important to the project [defined as contributing to moving my project forward]. This time limit made it necessary for me to be more intuitive rather than analytical as it came to the paper cull.

Third, I took the remaining “helpful” [notice I said ‘helpful’ and not ‘important’ because many people get bogged down with thinking they need to keep paper and other stuff because they will need it “some day”, yet that someday never comes]. I then took 4 notebooks and labeled each according to the project. Each paper got 3-hole punched and inserted into the binders by date: starting with the oldest to the most recent.

Fourth, I opened a word doc and turned to the first page of each binder and from those pages created my To Do List for when I returned. Something magical happens when you create your To Do List before you leave the office rather than start it when you arrive at the office. You will feel more focused and in control of your day and accomplish a lot more because you already have a plan.

Lastly, I dusted my desk, wiped my computer monitor and was grateful for this simple act of clearing my desk that for many will seem so radical.

So, the next time you are faced with insurmountable paper work, consider giving these simple, yet effective steps a try and please let me know how it works for you. 

Jaden Sterling is North America’s Business Acceleration Expert, an award winning, international best-selling author of “The Alchemy of True Success” and is a sought after Speaker, Consultant and Trainer who advises Zentrepreneurs on how to take their business to the next level. For more information please visit: www.jadensterling.com